The effectiveness of two commercial golf swing training aids used in teaching a beginning golf class.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of two golf swing training aids when used in conjunction with teaching the golf swing to university physical education beginning golf classes. The subjects for this study were 65 students enrolled in two physical education beginning golf classes at the University of North Alabama, Florence, Alabama, in the Fall semester of 1998. The investigator taught both of the golf classes. Subjects were asked to complete a questionnaire which included questions regarding their golfing experience and ability. This information was used to group subjects into four ability levels. Based on this information, subjects were randomly assigned to one of three groups within each ability level. Subjects were pre- and posttested using the Green Middle Distance Item Iron Skills Test (Green et al., 1987). Eight students were dropped from the study because of excessive absences. Data analysis was performed on 57 subjects. This study took place twice a week over a 12-week period (24 classes) with each class period lasting 50 minutes. Training sessions consisted of each group (Experimental Group 1, Experimental Group 2, and Control Group) completing ten minutes of swing drills, using its assigned club, led by the instructor at the beginning of class. All three groups were given identical instructions during the ten minutes of swing drills. For the remaining class time (40 minutes) all students used the standard club.

A dependent t-test was performed on each of the three groups to determine if there was improvement within each group from pre- to posttest. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to determine if there was a difference between groups. A significance level of .05 was used to determine whether or not a significant difference existed. The commercial training aids used in this study were not any more effective than using the standard club when helping students to attain better scores on the Green Middle Distance Item Iron Skills Test (Green et al., 1987).